1998 Seaborg Award: Raymond K. Sheline

Award Statement C&EN(Page 3)

Florida State University chemistry and physics professor RAYMOND K. SHELINE has spent 40 years studying the subtle behavior of nuclei, focusing on the effects of nuclear deformations. Sheline and his colleagues have studied the unique spectroscopic properties of nuclei with octupole deformation—an accomplishment that more rigorously tests nuclear models than the simpler properties of quadrupole-deformed nuclei.

Sheline and his colleagues have also discovered that octupole deformation is a vital component in the interpretation of the rare mode of ¹⁴C decay of ²²³Ra to ²⁰⁹Pb. His group has also found evidence for a hexadecapole deformation of certain nuclei.

Sheline received a B.S. degree in chemistry and math from Bethany College in Bethany, W.Va., in 1943. He worked on the Manhattan Project at Columbia University and at Los Alamos National Laboratory until 1946. He then received a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1949.

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